We offer our congratulations to the following Telcom family members:
Tasos Tsolakis, who has been hired for the newly established role of CEO at JSI. He will lead JSI’s strategic vision and growth initiatives, as well as product and service development. Tsolakis brings years of experience in technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity, most recently serving as SVP of Global Service Delivery at Continuum Managed Services.
We offer condolences to the following Telcom family members:
To the family of Jim Bass, who passed away in May just two weeks short of his 99th birthday at his home in Carthage, Tennessee. He was one of the founding members of TECO, which was later renamed NTCA Rural Broadband PAC.
To the family of H. Filmore Melick, who passed away in July at the age of 99. Melick served as manager at West Liberty Telephone from 1954 to 1998, was a director of the Iowa Telephone Association from 1953 to 1977 and was ITA president for 1967-68. At the time, Melick was the first son of a former ITA president to be elected to that office, a tradition that was carried on by his son Jerry Melick, who was ITA president in 2005.
To the family of Allen and Carmen Arvig in the death of Carmen’s mother, Irene Frost, in June in Minnesota.
To the family of Finley Engineering CTO Steven Senne, a longtime executive and active participant in the telecom industry, who passed away suddenly in June at his Iowa home. A Finley employee since 1988, Senne progressed through a variety of positions in the company, starting as a project engineer and most recently serving as chief technology officer and vice president. He was also a member of Finley’s board of directors, playing an active role in the company’s vision for the future, and was involved in many industry organizations, including NTCA, APPA, NSPE, IEEE, MTA and ICA. He served as president of the Association of Communication Engineers for two years.
To the family of Jeff Brower, general manager at Modern Cooperative Telephone Co. in South English, Iowa. Brower passed away unexpectedly in May.
To the family of Ellery Aufdengarten, husband of recent Big Bend Telephone Co. retiree Debbie Aufdengarten. He died in July at the family’s Texas ranch.
To the family of Tim Owens, who died in July after a short illness at the age of 55. Owens was the president and owner of Cronin Communications, a premier telecom consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Cronin, Owens was the executive director of the Foundation for Rural Service, the philanthropic arm of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association. While there, he was a two-time winner of the prestigious Innovations in Local Government Awards, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University. At Cronin’s helm, Owens worked with hundreds of telecommunications providers throughout the United States and was a chief resource to national, state and regional telecom associations.